Post
by Meido » Tue Nov 07, 2017 6:19 pm
Here's my take:
The attrition at ZFI over the past year or two was extreme. Many folks with substantial Buddhist studies and practice background migrated away. Recently, very few threads discussing much to do with Zen were actually going on. If ZFI comes back online, it's not clear to me that it will be of much use if it continues as it was.
It seemed that the attrition especially began when a few non-Zen folks became active and started dominating threads with their various agendas (one member in particular seemed intent on marketing his own self-created understanding of Zen teaching and practice). Other members, well-intentioned enough but somewhat excessively to my mind, determined to counter him. The resulting tedious back and forth was a thread killer for months.
Minimal moderation - nudging of conversations back on track or else splitting to new threads when needed, squashing of ad homs and other nonsense, and banning of folks who refuse to play nice or aren't down with the intent of the forum - was needed. I would also suggest that excessive, almost compulsive posting by some members was at times a thread-killer (given the shrunken pool of active members), and so it could be that a post-per-day limit would have been useful at times.
If a new forum is created, it doesn't seem likely to succeed if minimal, clear moderation guidelines are not established and consistently implemented. If that does happen, naturally I'll jump in when I can, and hopefully some of the folks who migrated away from ZFI will too.
But honestly, what's wrong with Dharmawheel? There are Zen specific fora here. There's as much Zen activity, and honestly to my mind of an often more interesting nature, than there had been at ZFI recently. Why not just jump in here? If a solely Zen forum is going to happen again, perhaps if nothing else DW could serve for a while as a nest for it. Not to mention that around here, you also get the benefit of hearing voices from other traditions, which for me has only served to illuminate aspects of my own...a pretty precious thing.
~ Meido
It is relatively easy to accomplish the important matter of insight into one’s true nature, but uncommonly difficult to function freely and clearly [according to this understanding], in motion and in rest, in good and in adverse circumstances. Please make strenuous and vigorous efforts towards this end, otherwise all the teachings of Buddhas and patriarchs become mere empty words. - Torei
The Rinzai Zen Way: A Guide to Practice
Korinji Rinzai Zen Monastery [臨済宗 • 祖的山光林禅寺] -
http://www.korinji.org